Elections Ontario is looking into a complaint from the NDP concerning the nomination papers of the provincial Liberal candidate in Chatham-Kent-Leamington.
Earlier this month, the Liberals had dropped Alec Mazurek, their previous candidate in the riding, just hours before the nomination deadline after the NDP revealed Facebook comments he’d made as a teenager using an anti-gay slur.
The Liberals replaced Mazurek with Audrey Festeryga, but the NDP alleviates the party used Mazurek’s nomination paper signatures — candidates are required to have them from at least 25 riding electors — for Festeryga instead.
“Elections Ontario is investigating the matter you have reported,” stated a letter, provided by the NDP to The Daily News over the weekend.
Officials added they do not provide updates on complaints and investigations, nor do they comment on these to the media until the investigation is concluded and a determination made.
Last week, a Chatham man came forward in a statement to say he did not sign the nomination papers for Festeryga, but for Mazurek.
Signatures collected to support a candidate’s Election Ontario filing aren’t meant to be transferable to another. The signature form includes a declaration that says signatories are voters in the specified riding who are nominating the named candidate.
In an email to The Daily News at the time, a Liberal party spokesperson said they plan to move ahead as planned.
“Our lawyers have looked into the NDP complaint, and we are confident the nomination of our candidate, Audrey Festeryga, is perfectly valid,” Andrea Ernesaks said. “I understand that Elections Ontario approved the candidacy a week ago and issued a certificate of nomination to our candidate.”
The riding’s last MPP, Rick Nicholls, was elected as a Progressive Conservative but was ousted from the Tory caucus last summer for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Nicholls is seeking re-election as a candidate for the Ontario Party, led by former Conservative Party of Canada leadership challenging Derek Sloan.
The Liberals ran third in the riding in 2018, with about eight per cent of the vote.
– With Postmedia files